Improvement in violins



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

G. HENRY HULSKAMP, OF TROY, NEV YORK.

lMPROVEMENT IN VlOLlNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,713, dated October 2l, i802.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, G. HENRY HULsKAMP, of the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Violins, Guitars, Ste.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof', reference being had tothe annexed drawings, which are in haltsize. The same letters refer to like parts in each.

Figure l is a horizontal plan of a violin. Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the inside ot' the lower soundingboard. Fig. 3 is a view of the inside of the upper sounding-board. Fig. 4 is avertical section as seen from the right-hand side of the instrument. Fig. 5 is also a part of a vertical section as seen from the righthand side; and Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 represent the bridges.

I have heretofore applied to piano-fortes the principle of straining the sounding-board, by which the quality of the tone and power ofthe instrument have been greatly improved. I have now applied the same principle to violins, guitars, alto-violins, violincellos, bassviols, and such like instruments. As these instruments are different in form,construction, &c., and produce a much louder and better sound than common violins, guitars, &c., I call them, with reference to the stringed quartette: Hul'skampaua, for violin, alto hulskampana, for viola; bass hulskampana, for violincello; grand bass hulskampana, for bass-violin, dolce hulskampana, for guitar.

The drawings represent the improvement applied to a violin. The application of it to the other instruments is substantially in the same way.

The sounding-boards or upper and lower sides of the instrument, A A A A and B B B B, instead of being rounded and curved, as heretofore constructed, are made straight and the outer surface plane. The two ends ofthe instrument are composed of two solid rims made of hard wood, and represented at I I I, and to them are iirmly glued the upper and lower sounding-boards. From each ot' the rims proceed the three braces H H H, which unite near the center of the instrument and are there connected with the steel screw J and two brass nuts. By turning this screw a pressure is transmitted from the center through the braces to the rims, and the requisite strain given tothe sounding-boards. The braces are shown as cut oft in Figs. 2 and 3, for the purpose of showing other parts. The ends of them are shown at O O in Fig. 5. I also usually place a small rim, N N N N. around that portion of the edges of the sounding-boards that are not glued to I I I, on the inside, for the purpose ot' better attaching the sides. On the lower sounding-board I also glue a circular piece of wood, Q Q, with its edges iiattened, in order to give more stiffness and elasticity to the middle of the sounding-board, and with the same view I also glue on a wooden rib, P P, usually somewhat diagonally across the board. I also glue ou a rib and circular piece of wood on the inside of the upper soundingboard, as represented by P P and Q Q.

In Fig. 3, It R represents the hole in the upper sounding-board.

One of the middle braces, H, is made out of one piece of wood with the neel; II, for the purpose of giving more strength to the neck. The under sounding-board, B B, is made wider iu its middle than the upper board, A A, and extends to the line, as shown in Figs. l and 2 at O O. Having therefore more surface of sounding-board, the tone ot' the instrument is much improved.

Both legs ofthe bridge in violins, &c.,which have heretofore been constructed have rested lon the upper sounding-board, and the two sounding-boards have been connected by a post on the inside of the instrument. This post much interferes with the free vibration of the sounding-board, but has been deemed indispensable to the instrument. I have dispensed with it by making an orifice, S, in the upper sounding-board and extending one ot' the legs of the bridge down through it to the lower sounding-board; or, what is still better, upon the lower sounding-board I erect a tripod or upright post with two or three legs standing upon the lower soul'iding-board, or its rib P P, and glued to it at 'Il T T, Fig. 2, and eX- tending up through the oriliee S, without touching it, to the upper surface ofthe upper sounding-board. One toot of the bridge D is placed upon this tripod or post, the other upon the upper soundiugboard, so that the vibrations of the strings are transmitted directly to both soundingboards alike without any interference with their vibrations. To prevent the upper sounding-board becoming indented tone of the instrument.

In violins and other instruments above mentioned, as heretofore constructed, there is often produced a jingling or impure sound from the strings in their Vibrations striking against the sides of the grooves in which they are held at the head of the neck U and at the bridge D. I have remedied the difficulty by making the nut U, on which the strings rest, with a flat projection, on which the strings bear, and which terminates the vibrations before the strings reach the grooves, as shown at U in Figs. l and 4. I also make a similar projection on the bridges D and Figs. 6', 7, 8, 9 for the same purpose.

The tail-piece or string-holder E has heretofore been attached to violins, Ste., by a cord or loop passing over a nut on the end of the instrument. I have found that the instrument will be much improved by attaching the string-holder firmly to the framev 0f the instrument. The end of the string-holder farthest from the strings I attach by a screw, V, passing through the sounding-board into the middle brace H. The other end rests upon two posts, WV WV, rising up from the other two braces II H and passing through orifices in the sounding-board, and a screw, X, passing down from the string-holder through an orice in the sounding-board into the middle brace, holds it firmly into those posts.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. rIhe use of strained sounding-boards in violins and other instruments above named and referred to, of whatever material made, operating and constructed substantially as set forth.

2. Having the middle portion ofthe under sounding-board, as shown at C C, made wider than the corresponding middle portion of the upper sounding-board, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

3. Making one foot of the bridge to bear upon the upper and one upon the lower sounding-board, either directly or by means of the tripod or post, as above set forth. f

4. The construction ofthe nutUand bridges with the (iat projection surface, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the string-holder E with one or more internal braces, H, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein shown and described.

G. HENRY HULSKAMP.

Vitnesses:

CHARLES L. ALBEN, JNO. B. GALE. 

